Transport is now a critical problem throughout the world, and it is set to get worse. Whether it is traffic congestion, crashes (10 million killed and injured each year), noise, air pollution, landscape destruction, or greenhouse gas emissions (of which transport is the fastest-growing source), the damage and the costs from our current forms of transport are dangerously high and getting worse. Policies and practical measures that can reduce and eliminate these problems are urgently needed.

This Reader contains 16 important contributions on how to improve transport globally. They are based on sound science, sound people-centred analysis, and a strong awareness of equity and human rights. And they have been selected for their originality, the importance of the issues they focus on, the quality of their insight and their practical relevance. A further 7 commissioned chapters provide informative overviews of the transport problems specific to each region of the world, while the editors' Introduction and Conclusion frames the discussion and lays out the scale of the challenges we face.

As a whole, the Reader demonstrates what steps can be taken to improve both transport provision and use, in both the developed and the developing world, while reducing environmental and health impacts. It will serve as an invaluable sourcebook for anyone researching or attempting to address the issues associated with world transport policy and practice, whether students, planners, business people or policy-makers.

John Whitelegg is Professor of Environmental Studies at Liverpool John Moores University. Gary Haq is Research Associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York.

Part 1 Introduction: The Global Transport Problem: Same Issues but a Different Place * Part 2 Transport in Africa: Four Decades of Road Transport in Africa * Liveable Streets for Pedestrians in Nairobi: The Challenge of Road Traffic Accidents * Sustaining Africa's Rural Road Networks: The Asset Management Approach * Part 3 Transport in Asia: Southeast Asian Urban Transport: A Kaleidoscope of Challenges and Choices * Automobile Dependence in Bangkok: An International Comparison with Implications for Planning Policies * Kolkata City: An Urban Air Pollution Perspective * Road Infrastructure Investment in Bangladesh: Environment under Threat * Part 4 Transport in Australia: Back on Track? Will Australia Return to Rail? * A Wish Called Wander: Reclaiming Automobility from the Motor Car * Urban Transport Policy Paradoxes in Australia * Part 5 Transport in Europe: European Regional Transport Issues * New Roads Generate New Traffic * Car-free Households: Who lives without an Automobile Today? * Part 6 Transport in Latin America: Urban Transport in Latin America * Car-sharing in Latin America: Examining Prospects in Santiago * The Urban Transportation Crises in Developing Countries * Part 7 Transport in North America: Regional Transport Issues in North America * The North American Growth Fixation and the Inner City: Roads of Excess * Prospects for Sustainable Transportation in the Pacific Northwest: a Comparison of Vancouver, Seattle and Portland * Part 8 Transport in the Middle East: Transport in the Middle East * How Many Shall Live? How Many Shall Die? Deaths Resulting from the Trans-Israel Highway and Alternatives: A Risk Assessment Revisited * The Status of Transportation in the West Bank * Part 9 Visioning Change: New Directions in World Transport Policy and Practice * Index